ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (Mar. 11, 2024) – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), today announced the 2023-24 Men’s Basketball Major Award winners, as voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.
Headlining postseason major award winners was Quinnipiac University with the MAAC Player of the Year, Matt Balanc and the MAAC Coach of the Year, Tom Pecora. Also garnering major awards were Saint Peter’s Latrell Reid, being named as MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, Fairfield University’s Brycen Goodine, who was selected as MAAC Sixth Player of the Year, and Mount St. Mary’s De'Shayne Montgomery, which was chosen as MAAC Rookie of the Year.
Balanc earned a unanimous spot on the All-MAAC First Team, leading to his selection as the MAAC Player of the Year. The graduate guard led the Quinnipiac Bobcats to their first ever MAAC Regular Season Championship after posting 18.5 points per game, the second ranked scoring output in MAAC this season. Balanc added 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists leading to the postseason honor. An efficient scorer, he was amongst the league leaders in shooting percentages, shooting 44.2 percent from the floor (20
th), connecting on 36.3 percent of his shots from beyond the arc (12
th), and making 87.2 percent of his attempts at the charity stripe (2
nd). Moreover, the graduate student from Silver Springs, MD made 2.7 three-pointers per game, which tied for second on the league-leaderboard. In addition to his two postseason honors this year, he was voted on the All-MAAC Second Team in 2021-22 following his redshirt-junior year.
In his inaugural season at the helm of the Quinnipiac Bobcats, Pecora was named MAAC Coach of the Year. Pecora led the Bobcats to the program’s first ever MAAC Regular Season title, finishing the MAAC stanza with a league-best mark of 15-5 and overall best record of 23-8, leading to the No. 1 overall seed in the MAAC Championship field. The 15 league wins were the most-ever in program history for his Quinnipiac team and the 23 total victories marked the most wins for the program since 2009-10. Under Pecora this season, Quinnipiac led the MAAC in scoring offense, scoring margin, rebound margin, free throw percentage, and winning percentage.
The MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, Reid, was the anchor for one of the league’s best defensive teams in Saint Peter’s. A native of Willingboro, NJ, Reid averaged 11.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.0 steals per game during his final season in Jersey City. Among the MAAC leaders, he ranked third in assists per game, third in total assists, ninth in assists to turnover ratio, and 21
st in scoring. Reid’s eight steals against UMBC on December 12 were the most in a game by a MAAC player this season and his 17 assists on March 3 against Manhattan, set a program record and was tied for the most in a game for a MAAC player this season. Additionally, he was chosen to the All-MAAC Third Team this season.
An All-MAAC Third Team choice, Fairfield’s Goodine was named as the best reserve in the MAAC, garnering MAAC Sixth Player of the Year. Goodine appeared in 28 games for the Stags, coming off the bench in 21 of the outings and averaging 14.6 points, 2.9 rebound and 1.5 assists per game on the year. Hailing from New Bedford, MA, he led the MAAC in three-point field goal percentage, ranked third in three-point field goals made, ninth in scoring, and 12
th in field goal percentage. Goodine also produced the top-two single-game scoring outputs in the MAAC this season, going for a league-most 40 points on January 5 at Siena and scoring 37 points on March 7 versus Canisius.
Montgomery, a unanimous All-Rookie Team choice, claimed MAAC Rookie of the Year accolades. From Fort Lauderdale, Fl, the freshman guard averaged 12.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game this season while shooting 53.9 percent from the field and 39.7 percent from three-point range. Montgomery led all MAAC rookies and ranked 14
th overall in scoring, he was 20
th in assists, and his field goal percentage ranked sixth in the conference and his free throw percentage was 19
th on the MAAC leaderboard. Defensively, he was sixth on the league charts in steals and 15
th in blocked shots. The freshman won a conference-high six MAAC Rookie of the Week awards in 2023-24, including the final four consecutive weekly awards to close out the regular season.
The 2023-24 campaign culminates with the 2024 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships from March 12-16 at Atlantic City's Historic Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall for the fifth consecutive year dating back to 2020. For all information regarding the 2024 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, please visit
MAACSports.com/basketball and by following @MAACHoops and #MAACHoops on Twitter.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 43rd year of competition during the 2023-24 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius University, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan College, Marist College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College. Merrimack College and Sacred Heart University will join the MAAC as full members in the 2024-25 academic year, expanding the conference to 13 institutions.
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